


Finding Her Way to a Happy Ending

by tobysbees



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Eventual Smut, F/F, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, My First Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-15 06:18:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5774821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tobysbees/pseuds/tobysbees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina finally opens up to Emma.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My beta asked me when in the series this occurs and my only answer is time is fake. I started writing this in season 2, but she thinks it will fit perfectly around season 4B but I have no idea how? So I'm sticking with time is Fake.

She didn’t see her right away when she entered the vault from the outside. She heard her sobs echoing through the cold walls of the vault first. Emma followed them to where Regina was collapsed on the floor, lying between scattered boxes of hearts conquered. Her eyes were red and swollen from her loss of control and her breathing ragged from trying to regain it. Emma paid no attention to the hearts, she was too focused on the broken woman lying in front of her.

Regina didn't look up at the sound of Emma moving closer or the feeling of her warm arms pulling her up from the wet stone floor and into her lap. She tensed at Emma’s touch. Regina wanted to take comfort in her, but she couldn’t bear to lose any more control. Not in front of Emma. 

Yet, lying in her lap, Regina felt her breathing slow and her body still with the slow stroke of Emma’s hand across her back. Sensing this, Emma progressed her efforts.

"Hey," she soothed. "What is it? What's wrong?”

Not ready to hear Emma’s voice, Regina allowed another choked sob to escape from her as she buried her face in Emma’s jeans.

"T-this," was all she managed as she gestured vaguely around her.

Regina didn’t know how to behave in front of Emma anymore. She had always held her walls strong, while taunting Emma, daring her to break them down. Now she was crumbed beside her, still trying to find a way to let her in. She had imagined lying next to Emma, spent, under entirely different circumstances.

"It's okay, it's okay," Emma continued to whisper while tracing small circles on Regina's back with her thumbs. But Regina knew it wasn't. She pushed herself up off of Emma, letting herself look fondly at her for a moment before leaning back to an empty box discarded in her earlier fit of rage. 

She lifted the box to show her but instead, transfixed with guilt; Regina stilled and leaned against Emma, taking comfort from the warmth of her. 

"This is not okay," Regina let out with a whimper. The tears were finally slowing, her breathing regulating, but still nothing felt normal. Nothing felt right. 

Emma said nothing, but she didn’t pull away either, her hands still offering soft strokes against Regina’s back.

“How am I supposed to be a hero,” Regina’s voice came out in a small whisper, “How can I even convince myself I deserve a happy ending… how could I? With this?” 

"Whose was it?" Emma asked. Her tone was reserved, but not angry or judgmental. Regina appreciated that, but resented silent cold front making its way across Emma’s demeanor starting with the stilling of her soothing strokes across her back.

"Graham's."

Regina thought about how she had used him, controlled him, how stupid she had been. She had no justification for why she had done it; she hadn’t even wanted him. Being with him made her feel awful, it was painful, and it felt like punishment. Maybe knowing he didn’t want it either made her feel better. She could write away consensual agreements because neither parties were consenting, not really. She knew that was untrue too. She was consenting, but it was to hurt herself. She wanted to bring him that same pain and she did it the only way she knew how. 

In any case, no amount of justification was enough, but it was something she grasped onto. It grounded her just as clutching the edge of red leather sitting on Emma’s hips did, as they melded together on the floor of her crypt.

"I can't undo it," she whispered into Emma's chest, pulling herself up toward Emma and leaning into the support offered to her.

"I know," Emma’s words were reassuring yet cool but Regina drank them in regardless. She felt her tears soaking into Emma's shirt and started to pull away but Emma held her in place, hands stroking gently through her hair and across her back. 

"I can't undo it." She repeated. "I'm so sorry. I wish..."

"I forgive you," Emma offered her. Only Emma would offer her this and Regina loved her for it and for everything else Emma unknowingly gave her. But Regina knew it wasn't enough. She didn't deserve it and continued crying in Emma's arms.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things have to get worse before they get better.

The next morning, Regina awoke in her room feeling as though she were in the wrong place. She walked through her memories of the previous night and recalled Emma helping her up after crying on the floor and bringing her there. She must have helped her get changed into her pajamas as well because Regina didn't remember, another experience Regina imagined going differently.

Still groggy from spending herself crying all of last night, Regina pulled herself out of bed and headed downstairs for coffee. On her way to the kitchen she spotted Emma on her couch. She had spent the night. Regina's lips curled into a slight smile as she worked to banish the circumstance from her thoughts. 

Looks like I'll be making coffee for two, she thought and strayed into the kitchen. 

For a moment, Regina allowed herself to entertain the thoughts of a normal life – a life where she would’ve found Emma curled up in the bed next to her rather than on the uncomfortable couch downstairs. She thought of a life where morning coffee for two was a habitual act rather than a sacred one; one in which Emma would meander into the kitchen with sleepy eyes while Henry chatted to them over a bowl of cereal. A life in which she could look past the tacky yellow bug because Emma loved it so much, a life where pieces of her slowly trickled into their home, a life where she could call a place their home at all. Her fairy tale fantasies dissipated with her first sip of coffee and she started to the living room to face her much harsher reality.

She put Emma's coffee down on the table in front of them and took a seat on the edge of the couch in the space between her bent knees and her arms curled underneath herself. She took her in for a moment before placing a hand on her thigh to rouse her. 

A soft moan escaped Emma's lips sending a tremor up Regina's spine. Emma squinted as she adjusted to consciousness.

"Morning," Regina said, gesturing to Emma's coffee while taking a sip of her own and lowering her mug to hug it between her hands. A poor substitute for the warmth of Emma, but it would have to do for now.

"Morning." Emma's greeting was more apprehensive, her stare cool and questioning. She sat up, creating a devastating distance between herself and Regina on the couch. They sat like that for a while, and again Regina imagined a warmer version of the two of them doing the same. 

"You know, you didn't have to stay." Regina was the first to speak and she regretted her words as soon she spoke them. She was grateful, but her cool tone made her seem resentful. 

"I didn't have to forgive you either," Emma bit back. 

Emma must have registered Regina’s cringe at the words because her voice softened, although her words were just as biting.

"I still don't know if I do, not completely." 

Regina's stomach sank.

"Emma -"

"No, I meant what I said last night," Emma started to explain, "but Regina, Graham was my friend - and it's not just that he died -"

"I know."

"You know, and I know you knew then too, Regina." Emma said and her eyes punctured through Regina like bullets. "But, I also know something else."

"What?"

"That you're trying so hard to be a different person. I can see it, but I don't know if that'll ever be enough to forgive what you have done." Emma paused. "It can never erase the past, but you already know that."

Tears were rising in a lump in Regina's throat, and with them a defensive anger. 

"So what? When you said you had forgiven me last night, that was to pacify me so you could turn around and berate me later? Why even bother, Emma?"

"That's not it at all."

"Then why did you say it?"

"Because it's true. I forgive you. The you that you are now, but I could never forgive you, the you that did all those terrible things. And as much as you change, she is still a part of you."

The tears rose, hot on Regina's face. 

"God, Emma," Regina managed through the tears, "You always see the good in me."

Emma considered Regina’s words for a moment before speaking again.

"Because I need it to be there," Emma replied. "For our son, for this place we call home, for me, and for you too."

Regina met her eyes and the fog was lifted. Anything that was inhibiting her in that moment was gone. 

"Emma, I love you." Regina spoke with intent and moved towards Emma with care. She stopped just short of her, not ready to cross any lines, not without Emma letting her in first. 

"I love you too, but that doesn't need erase-" 

Emma's tone was too casual too relaxed. Regina shifted uncomfortably, her heart sinking as she sensed that Emma had misunderstood, sensed that she was brushing aside her confession, mutating into something less frightening for her. Regina wanted to shake her so she understood, to scream at her to listen, but she couldn’t move. The invisible line separating them sat heavier between them than ever. 

"No, Emma," Regina insisted, needing Emma to listen, "I love you."

Emma pauses this time, her expression changing so slightly, Regina could have missed it, if she hadn't known her, hadn't loved her, if she hadn't been gauging her for a reaction from her since she waltzed her way into this town. But Regina couldn't pause, she couldn't stop now that Emma had stripped her of her walls and Regina was there in front of her, ready to be everything for her. 

"I love you, like actually love you, like I want to make this work, like I want to give you everything, love you.” How could she even begin to explain what she felt for Emma? She didn’t think she could wrap it up into words or a neat little box with a bow, so she kept talking, kept letting the words spill out of her, “and I want to be a better person for you, and well, for Henry too. I want us to be a family, the three of us. I want to be that light you see in me. And you know that happy ending you said you’d deliver? I don’t want it from the Savior, I want it from you, just you, Emma Swan, here, with me. You're the only one who ever saw the good in me and I want us to take it and build something out of it, but I can't do it without you, Emma. I can't."

She said it all in what felt like a breath, but it didn’t feel like enough. Just before silence could fill every crack in the room and push them both apart, Regina added another quiet “I love you,” and dropped her chin, averting her glare, not wanting to see the thoughts behind Emma’s nuanced shifts. 

“Regina…” it was as though her voice was thousands of worlds away.

Regina couldn’t let bring herself to let their eyes meet, but Emma didn’t accept the disconnect, she didn’t accept the obvious haste with which Regina began to build her walls, and continued to be the only force that could knock them down. The savior. She could have been her savior.

“Regina, I’m sorry, but… it’s not that I don’t…” Emma, endearing Emma, stumbled over her words, “I do love you, but not… I’m not…” 

Mustering the courage to look up at her, Regina could see that Emma felt truly sorry. Emma didn’t pity her, but she regretted causing her pain, and for that Regina was thankful. She pulled back. In her fairy tale world, a true love’s kiss could break this curse so that they could live happily ever after. She almost had the heart to try it, but she knew better. She wanted her words to be enough, she wanted to do something, anything but she knew she could only give Emma this, anything else and it wouldn’t be real.

“It’s okay,” she said, even though she wasn’t.

“I wish…”

“It’s okay.”

“You sure?”

Regina felt her lips curled into a soft but mischievous smile, and she gave a slight nod. “I forgive you,” she said. 

Emma gave her a dark glare and Regina returned a more serious expression. 

“I understand where you were coming from earlier, and I’m not trying to equate –,”

“Good,” Emma cut her off.

“I’m just trying to make light of an awful situation,” Regina explained.

Emma moved towards her and put a hand over hers. Regina grew flushed from her touch.

“I really am sorry,” Emma said.

“It’s okay, I just,” Regina hesitated, “I just need some time alone.”

Emma nodded, understanding. Emma lifted herself from the couch, collected her things, and began walking toward the hall before Regina could move to follow. Throwing on her leather jacket with ease, Emma turned back toward Regina.

“See you soon, though?”

“Yeah, see you soon,” Regina smiled back at her and waited for the sound of the front door before she allowed herself to crumble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not a Regina apologist and I do believe she has to be held responsible for her actions. I don't feel comfortable arguing away the fact that she is a canon rapist using authorial intent and I think doing so plays more into the problem of rape culture than actually addressing the issue, which is what I attempt to do with this piece.
> 
> That being said, I still like Regina as a character although I recognize her flaws and this is one of the flaws of hers I dislike and honestly, don't forgive, even with this piece. I also do not expect anyone to accept this headcanon as their own, this is just how I personally would like to make peace with the issue and how I personally see Regina's character.
> 
> That being said; things can only look up from here, right?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A heart-to-heart.

Regina must have cried herself to sleep, because she awoke to a knocking at her door. Irritated, she checked her swollen eyes in the mirror on the way downstairs and tucked away any stray hairs, then opened the front door.

Through her peephole was Emma. The last person she expected to see. The flickers of annoyance were brewing into anger and as she opened the door she prepared to start a screaming match. 

“I said I –,”

“Hey mom!” 

Standing just to Emma's right, just out of view, was Henry. His excitement to see her overrode her anger and she collected him into a hug.

“What are you doing here, it’s Emma’s week,” Regina pushed back his shoulders so she could see her son’s eyes. She was happy to have him there. She was not expecting to find comfort in seeing anyone just quite yet. In fact, she was not expecting that sinking feeling of loneliness that had been haunting her to fade and yet, somehow, her son managed to erase it in its entirety.

“I’m not staying,” Emma added with hands shoved deep in her pockets, shifting her weight between right and left feet. Regina could see she was eager to leave, eager not to overstep too soon.

“Emma said you missed me and said I should come over,” Henry explained, still pressed against her shoulder but turning to wave goodbye to Emma.

“I did miss you,” she replied, a hand rising from his shoulder to stroke back his hair.

“If you’re busy or whatever, I can still keep him for the week,” Emma said, “I just thought… I thought you could use some quality time together.”

Emma's gaze met Regina's and her sincerity showed in her eyes. 

“No I’m not too busy at all,” Regina replied, smiling over at Henry. He turned away from her now, leaning against her so he could say goodbye to Emma. 

“Thank you.” She sounded so quiet and humble, Regina almost didn’t recognize her own voice. 

“Anytime,” Emma smiled at her, already walking backwards away from the front door. “I’ll pick him up on Sunday?” 

“Yeah, Sunday’s good,” Regina agreed, returning inside, son still under her arm. 

*** 

They didn’t do anything too exciting in their time together, they never had. It was enough for Henry to read in the same room that Regina was cooking – or scheming – in. Today, however, Henry pushed for a movie and Regina agreed. They sat together curled up on the couch with hot chocolate and popcorn. He didn’t threaten to sprinkle cinnamon over her drink and she didn’t crinkle her nose in mock disgust over his cup, like they had taken to over the years. 

By the time the credits rolled, Regina realized she barely recalled the plot of the film. She faded in and out, happy to be with Henry, but not really attached to any particular way to spend the time with him. 

She stared at the screen, mesmerized at the rolling white on black. It wasn’t late but she was exhausted, odd because she took a nap in the middle of the day, something she did not often do. Henry fidgeted beside her, pulling her out of her thoughts. He looked nervous like he wanted to ask her something and she turned to him, waiting for him to be ready to tell her.

“So you told her, huh?” his words formed under her gaze.

She was taken aback by the remark. She felt pinpricks of anger rising for the second time that day. Typical Emma, rattling off to tell Henry every detail of her private life. She knew Emma promised not to lie to Henry before and she always thought it a ridiculous thing to promise to anyone. Today she felt that more than ever. 

"She told you?" Regina couldn't help but let annoyance rise into her voice. The anger, she managed to suppress for now. These feelings were not Emma's to share. 

"She didn't have to," Henry steered the conversation away from Regina's bubbling fury. It worked, as she softened immediately. 

"How did you--?"

"I could tell that you love her,” he shrugged, “Without anyone having to tell me."

"Oh." Regina felt small in her son's response. Her loneliness, which she managed to banish since Emma dropped Henry off, was creeping back into her heart. They sat in the quiet air of her realization for a few minutes as Regina contemplated the impact of her son's knowledge of her feelings. She decided to break the silence. "I just wish we could be a family," she confessed. 

Henry looked as though he were chewing her words, trying to understand their texture. "I know, I wish it too," he said.

That small revelation from Henry took Regina by surprise. "You do?"

"Yeah, I mean, it would be pretty cool if I could just see both of you all the time instead of all this back and forth," Henry explained and must have caught a change in her expression because he was quick to add, "Not that this is bad!"

Then in a whisper he added, "I like seeing you happy."

She leaned to him, draping a hand over his shoulder. She thought about how lucky she was to have Henry with her - lucky that she managed not to fuck him up with bad parenting or the darkness that swirled around her heart. Lucky that he had Emma in him because she knew that saved him just as it had saved her. 

"It would have been nice," she started, allowing herself to be honest with Henry, "like a fairy tale ending for us."

She looked over at him and watched him take in her words. 

"But not all of us get fairy tale endings," she continued, "and yes, it would have been so nice to have spent the day like this with you _and_ Emma, to do this all the time, to build a life together, it's not going to happen. No matter how much I want it for us."

"I wanted it too," Henry sighed, pausing for a moment before he changed to his usual chipper self, "But I don't think you missed out on your fairy tale ending. Not yet."

She was touched at his optimism, even if she didn't buy it herself. 

"Henry, you're a good kid. And you deserve your own fairy tale ending," she chose her words with care, "Eventually."

He was all-ears. Regina couldn’t help but wonder if this is how Emma captivated him, pulled him towards her when they were together – stories of fairy tales and happy endings. 

"But not all of us can have one," Regina continued. "I'm just one of those people. And that's okay."

Henry chuckled at her. 

"You're wrong," he told her. She caught a sparkle of Emma's determination in his eyes. 

Regina sighed, it wasn’t really a conversation she liked having with her son, although they’d had it before. “I’m the villain Henry, and villain’s don’t get happy endings.”

Henry insisted, almost pleading, “Trust me, you're wrong."

She sighed and wondered what Henry saw in her that gave him such optimism. 

"Suit yourself, Henry."

"You don’t have to believe me. I believe it enough for the both of us."

Regina smiled at Henry's persistence and shrugged. It was no use arguing with him. She even let herself believe that he could possibly be right.


	4. Chapter 4

Regina stood at the threshold of her doorway, eyeing Emma standing on the other side with caution. It had been a year since she dropped Henry off when it had been her turn to watch him, knowing Regina would take comfort in his presence. Now it was Regina, passing off Henry to Emma a week early. 

"Thanks for taking him," Regina offered.

"Anytime," Emma smiled, "I owe you a favour as it is."

They stood at the threshold, watching the stairs as Henry emerged. Duffle draped over his shoulder, coat undone, he hurried down the stairs to greet them. 

"Bye mom," he said to Regina from the bottom of the stairs, already hurrying over to Emma.

“Here kid, let me grab that for you,” Emma said, taking his duffle and bringing it to her car.

“I’ll be right there!” Henry called after her.

“Have fun,” Regina said to him, “and don’t give Emma a hard time.”

“I won’t,” Henry said. He hesitated, as though there was something else on his mind.

“What?”

“I told you.”

Regina was confused. Henry hadn’t argued with her this visit about anything in particular, what could he possibly have bragging rights to this time? Henry picked up on Regina’s confusion quickly and gave her a wry smiled, one he seemed to have picked up from her over the years.

“I told you that you’d get your happy ending.”

Regina’s cheeks grew hot as she smiled, self-conscious and speechless in her foyer. Henry, slipping into a light jog, was already halfway to Emma’s car and Regina watched him get inside and pull away before shutting the door and heading back up to her bedroom.

There, sitting against propped up pillows, hair awry, baggy slept-in t-shirt, and a cooling mug of coffee beside her, Tink was waiting. Regina loved seeing her so comfortable in her home. Like gravity, Tink drew her in until Regina was standing beside Tink, who remained cozied up in bed. “Thought he’d never leave,” she teased as she leaned up to Regina, searching for a kiss.

“A weekend with Henry was that terrible, was it?” Regina asked, her voice filled with mock indignation.

“Mmm,” Tink considered, pulling Regina down towards her on the bed, already reaching for the buttons of her silk blouse. “It wasn’t so bad, just missed this.”

 _Admittedly, so did I,_ Regina mused to herself as she shed her top and felt Tink’s skin against hers, begging for more contact. Their lips sought out one another again, and Regina felt Tink’s tongue tentatively making new discoveries. Kissing her managed to feel novel and comfortable at the same time, Regina never knew how she accomplished this feat.

To Regina, Tink was a craving that could never be satisfied and so she sought more ways to take her in. She nuzzled into Tink’s neck, pushing her curls back to leave kisses trailing toward her collarbone, drinking in her skin. She barely registered Tink reaching behind her to unclasp her bra. Hell, she probably wouldn’t have noticed if Tink didn’t follow the act by drawing teasing circles around areolas with her thumbs.

Regina let her hands glide down Tink’s arms to her hips, until they sat at the edge of the fabric of her oversized t-shirt. “May I?” Regina asked, ready to pull it up to reveal a braless Tink, as evidenced from her hardening nipples against it.

Tink gave a nod and Regina pulled away to remove Tink’s shirt. When Tink moaned at the lost of contact, Regina couldn’t help but throw her a sly smile before drawing herself back into Tink. She sucked on Tink’s breasts in turns, her hand teasing the opposite nipple, only stopping when Tink pushed her back.

“What is it?”

“Just evening out the score,” Tink replied. She was only wearing a pair of briefs, while Regina still had her skirt on. Regina anchored herself to Tink’s shoulders and let her head fall back as Tink simultaneously worked her breasts with her mouth and her zipper with her hands. “There, that’s more like it,” she said after the skirt fell to Regina’s ankles, and leaned back onto the bed, inviting Regina to continue showering her with affection.

“I need to taste you,” Regina breathed as her lips found their way to her navel, fingers hooking into the other woman’s underwear and tugging them down to her ankles. She then pulled Tink toward the edge of the bed, while positioning herself below her. Regina could feel the Tink’s heat as she made her way down the other woman’s stomach to the outline of her hips, and then her thighs. She wanted to drink her in, but resisted and Tink squirmed under the tease.

“I thought you needed this,” Tink protested as Regina’s kisses continued to down Tink’s thighs instead of settling between them. Regina laughed into her skin and then continued with her kisses.

“Not as much as you apparently,” Regina replied as she brought her mouth to her centre, sighing. She could almost taste her. Instead, she waited, looking up with mischievous eyes as Tink’s heat called to her, drawing her in.

“Please,” Tink groaned and Regina relented, giving her a light kiss, and then parting her already wet lips. She then began to work her way deeper into her folds with only her tongue. She tasted like home. Not the one in the enchanted forest where her former self used to occupy, but like the shores of Storybrooke, the salt of the sea, and the warmth of it’s sun. She was the home Regina had built for herself – finally – after all these years. Overwhelmed by her, by her need for her, Regina made desperate movements to pull her closer into herself, while her tongue continued its exploration or the hood of other woman’s clit. She felt Tink anchoring herself by running fingers through her hair. That’s when Regina inserted two fingers into her folds and was thanked by a grateful moan from Tink.

Regina was not religious, she never did know how to pray, although she knew you were meant to kneel by your bed and ask God for forgiveness or talk to him or something. That all changed when she started sleeping with Tink. Somehow, praying became easy. There, kneeling at the foot of the bed, she was one with god, one with Tink; she could feel the other woman’s pleasure as though it were her own. As Tink’s moans grew more urgent, Regina’s pleasure reached a crescendo. It was a pleasure that she previously had not known possible; at least, one not possible without being touched. Regina found forgiveness kneeling before Tink as she drank in her sacramental juices and she every time Tink collapsed backward from pleasure, Regina felt as though she had been saved.

Regina saw Tink clutching the sheets as she felt her muscles start to contract around her fingers. Regina sucked on her now-swollen clit and felt Tink’s body writhe beneath her in a wave of pleasure. She removed her hand and slowed her tongue’s caresses as the other woman rode out her orgasm.

Tink barely missed a beat before she was pulling Regina onto the bed. “Bet you’re just about ready to come?” She asked.

Regina let her legs bracket Tink’s hips and leaned in for a desperate kiss in response. Her tongue probed into Tink’s mouth with an urgency as she rocked against Tink, seeking the leverage that would bring her release.

“No, stop,” Tink said.

“Stop?”

“Not like that,” Tink clarified, and led Regina up until her centre was hovering above Tink’s lips. “First, let’s get these off.” Tink reached above her and pulled the silk panties that still hugged Regina’s curves down, her legs and Regina shuffled awkwardly to help before lowering herself back to her previous position. Tink hands began running up and down Regina’s side, along with her shivers. She slowed as she reached the edges of Regina’s breasts and plated with them there.

Tink’s mouth was working slow, gentle kisses along the inside of Regina’s thigh until she finally spoke.

“You’re in control,” Tink breathed into her centre. Regina nearly collapsed from the pleasure caused by either Tink’s words or the breath from them. Then she lowered herself, allowing Tink access.

At first, she sat above Tink, giving the other woman room to breathe, only rotating her hips against Tink’s grip to increase her pleasure. Soon enough, she needed more and lowered herself more to increase the pressure of Tink’s tongue. She closed her eyes and sank deeper into Tink’s tongue and crying out when the woman pressed it inside of her. Tink wove her tongue through Regina until she felt a knot building inside of her, until her pleasure had her buckling and her muscles were contracting from the pleasure. The orgasm was coming and she was just about ready to pull away when Tink pulled her in tighter and would not loosen her grip. The wave of pleasure that tore through her was relentless and only when her body relaxed from it, did Tink’s grip release her.

“Oh my god,” Regina breathed, reshuffling so she could kiss Tink with gratitude. She tasted a mix of herself and Tink’s own lingering juices against her tongue.

They collapsed within each other’s arms, their limbs weaving together like puzzle pieces. Tink pulled herself against the crook of Regina’s neck and Regina gathered her as close against her as she could before she felt her lids grow heavy.

“I love you,” Tink muttered sleepily, and Regina knew Tink shared her desire for a nap.

They lay quiet, their breathing regulating in tune with one another and just before the pull of sleep took them both into unconsciousness, Regina said, “You should move in.”

“Okay,” Tink agreed, and Regina could feel her lips curl against her neck. Then they fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so yes, I am punishing Regina for her past actions by writing her true love as straight, you got me there. I also wanted to note that I spent a long painstaking amount of time deciding who would actually end up with Regina in this story. I even held off writing my final chapter until I reached season 4 so I could see more interaction between Maleficent and Regina, but alas, I went with Tink. 
> 
> The reason for this choice is actually rooted in a headcanon I have about Regina (in which she does end up with Emma), that I may or may not be writing an accompanying fic to. This work would be longer and a more fully-fledged story than what I have here, which I think works more like a snapshot of a bigger picture. Hungry for more? Validation is the secret ingredient for my motivation.
> 
> I’d also like to thank my beta, Cassandra, who edited everything but the final chapter. So if it’s significantly worse, blame her (or the fact that this is my first time writing smut)!

**Author's Note:**

> Extended notes will be published with the final chapter.


End file.
